The Hearthstone Europe Winter Championship gets underway tomorrow, March 18! After dueling against more than 150 card-slingers who qualified for the Winter Preliminary last month, eight finalists have emerged victorious to secure their coveted slots. We met Naiman, Nicslay, Diggen, and Cereza in yesterday’s blog, and now we’re spending some time with BunnyHoppor, Pokrovac, DrHippi, and Tars.

---

BunnyHoppor

Raphael “BunnyHoppor” Peltzer happens to be on the lookout for a Hearthstone team. He’ll certainly have a great chance to show what he can do at the Europe Winter Championship.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started playing Hearthstone.

I’m 23 years old, and currently doing my PhD in Chemistry at the University of Oslo. Although I study and work in Norway, I’m originally from Germany, and moved here about a year ago. I started playing Hearthstone around October 2014 when a friend urged me to play a game with him. I ended up hanging out with him in game until 5 a.m. the next morning!

If you had to pick one, what would be your favorite Hearthstone card?

It's hard to pinpoint which card I like the most. I think Reno Jackson is a really great card, because it changed the whole meta by itself. But then again I really like handlock, so I think I have to pick Lord Jaraxxus—because even if you win against him, YOUR WORLD IS STILL DOOMED.

When ranking up on ladder, do you have any specific strategies?

My favorite class is Warlock—mainly because it’s really versatile and as I mentioned, I love playing handlock. On ladder, I often like to try out decks that I have seen on streams or ones that friends recommended I play, while trying to improve the deck for the current meta by changing a few cards. Sometimes though, I like to just play my handlock or other decks I’m fond of, regardless of the meta.

What are you most proud of regarding your Hearthstone career so far, and what does the future hold?

Other than winning some small tournaments, I haven’t really had the chance to prove myself in Hearthstone. I’ve only participated in one DreamHack qualifier and a bunch of small Strivewire tournaments so far. Qualifying for the Winter Championship is by far my biggest achievement. My nearest future goals are to perform as well as possible in the Europe Winter Championship and to find a team that can help me improve my gameplay.

---

Pokrovac

Mikuláš Dio, better known as Pokrovac, is one of the youngest participants in the tournament. He’s energetic, enthusiastic, and ready to show what he’s made of.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started playing Hearthstone.

I’m 16 years old and I’m from the Czech Republic. I’ve played Magic: The Gathering since I was 6 years old—I learned from my father and even had the chance to participate in the Pro Tour. I was introduced to Hearthstone by my friends around one and half years ago and I’ve been playing since.

If you had to pick one, what would be your favorite Hearthstone card?

It would be The Black Knight. It was the first Legendary card I opened and it was golden as well! I had lots of fun with it, and still have warm feelings towards it. Sadly, it isn’t that great anymore, but it worked well in the old meta.

When ranking up on ladder, do you have any specific strategies?

I play zoo, secret paladin, and aggro druid. I like to play tempo decks as they allow me to control the flow of the match, and the games aren’t too long so I’m able to climb the ladder at a good pace.

What are you most proud of regarding your Hearthstone career so far, and what does the future hold?

I participated in several DreamHack tournaments and I also managed to qualify for Assembly last year and the GameGune tournament in Spain. In the near future I want to focus more on tournaments and qualifying for the BlizzCon finals.

---

DrHippi

Ukrainian Artem “DrHippi” Kravets only entered the Hearthstone competitive scene recently, but he’s showing plenty of potential already.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started playing Hearthstone.

My name’s Artem, better known as DrHippi. I heard about Hearthstone through Dota 2, actually, as weird as that sounds. I used to play it a lot in the past, and I stumbled upon a Hearthstone stream through one of the fan-sites. After a couple of minutes of watching the stream, I decided that I had to try the game.

If you had to pick one, what would be your favorite Hearthstone card?

It would have to be Ice Block. It’s a very unique card that can prolong the game for another turn, which is what I like about it. Mage is actually my favorite class and I have no idea why. I’ve always been drawn to mages in any game that has the class.

When ranking up on ladder, do you have any specific strategies?

I’d rather not answer that question. I don’t want to reveal my strategic secrets, because if I do, my opponents will know exactly what to ban in the championship! :)

What are you most proud of regarding your Hearthstone career so far, and what does the future hold?

I haven’t been playing competitively for long, and have only taken part in a couple of small tournaments. In the future I want to participate in a lot more, and I think you’ll get to see plenty more of me after the Winter Championship.

---

Tars

Rémi “Tars” Roesch is already a well-known name among the French community, and he sure knows how to enjoy a game of Hearthstone!

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started playing Hearthstone.

I'm French but I currently live in Spain. I finished my engineering studies a few months ago, and I’m now a full-time Hearthstone player for team Melty. I started playing casually during the open beta, and competitively in December 2014.

If you had to pick one, what would be your favorite Hearthstone card?

I think Twisting Nether is my favorite. The animation is really cool, the card is good enough, and it used to be a card no one expected to see in a tournament. I had a lot of success with it.

When ranking up on ladder, do you have any specific strategies?

I play ladder mostly for fun. I use decks like value mage with Bolf Ramshield or combolock with Fel Cannons. Sometimes that allows me to find unexpectedly competitive decks, but it's mostly to have fun playing the game. As for classes, my favorites are warlock and mage. They’re the best classes to experiment with in terms of deck building. They have really interesting cards as well as many different play styles.

What are you most proud of regarding your Hearthstone career so far, and what does the future hold?

My biggest achievement was winning DreamHack France last year. I also performed well in most French events. I recently participated in PGL Tavern Tales and the Insomnia Truesilver Championship, and of course, I qualified for the Europe Winter Championship.

My main goal is to win the Winter Championship, but to be less specific, I just want to do my best in every tournament I compete in and keep learning from my mistakes and getting better. I'm far from being the best right now, but I think I can still make a lot of progress. Most of all I want to have fun playing Hearthstone, and I’m really looking forward to playing in standard mode and seeing the new expansion.

---

Be sure to tune in and follow all the card-slinging action at twitch.tv/playhearthstone. Best of luck to all the finalists!

*All decklists above were used at the Europe Winter Preliminary.

---